Warriors Darkness Reigns
by Cloudy Dreamcatcher
Summary: This book is the sequel to Paws of Magic, going further into Cinderstorm, Shadowkit, and the mysterious smoke-colored warrior. Darkness Reigns also tells from other cats point of view, including Skyflight and Flameheart's siblings. This book is sure to leave readers in suspense of the next chapter all the way through.
1. Allegiances

Cats in the woods…

Thunderclan

LEADER **MAPLESTAR** **-** Cream colored tabby she-cat, hazel eyes.

DEPUTY **SHININGSTREAM** \- Blue-gray she cat with yellow eyes.

MEDICINE CAT **REDPELT-** Russet colored tom with green eyes.

 **SKYFLIGHT-** Silver she-cat with dark blue eyes.

WARRIORS **WORMWIGGLE-** Pinkish-white tom with long legs and

blue eyes.

 **SPOTTEDRIVER-** Light gray tabby she-cat with white

Spots and blue eyes

 **BLACKSNOW-** Black she-cat with white paws.

 **RAINCLOUD-** Gray-white she-cat with yellow eyes.

 **SUNNYFIRE-** Yellow tabby she-cat, leaf-green eyes.

 **GRASSWIND-** White and brown tabby tom, green eyes.

 **SMALLFOOT-** Pale orange tom with very small paws.

 **GREENSTRIPE-** Black tabby tom with green eyes.

 **RAVENWING-** Black tabby she-cat with blue eyes

 **LAKEMINNOW-** Silver and brown tabby tom, formerly of

Riverclan.

APPRENTICE-SWEETPAW

 **TIGERLEAF** \- Dark brown tabby she-cat with green eyes.

 **WHITEPOPPY** \- White she-cat with yellow eyes.

 **DAWNSTREAK** \- Yellow and brown spotted she-cat.

 **NETTLESTING** \- Dusky brown she-cat.

 **SUNCLAW-** \- Dark orange tom with yellow eyes.

APPRENTICE- FAWNPAW

 **MOONSTRIPE-** \- Silver tabby she-cat, pale blue eyes.

APPRENTICE-IVYPAW

 **LIGHTPELT-** \- Brown tabby tom.

 **STARWATER-** \- Night-black she-cat.

 **OAKBREEZE** \- Tortoiseshell and white tom.

 **FLAMEHEART** \- Orange tabby she-cat, white paws, blue eyes.

APPRENTICE-SHADOWPAW

 **CRIMSONPEBBLE** \- Brown tabby tom.

 **WINDHAWK** \- Yellow and brown tom.

APPRENTICE- FLUFFYPAW

 **SWIFTHEART** \- Brown tabby tom.

APPRENTICE-ANTPAW

 **BLUESNOW-** \- Blue she-cat.

 **GOLDCLOUD** \- Golden she-cat.

QUEENS **CLOUDFUR-** White she-cat.

 **WATERLEAF-** Silver she-cat with a white chest.

APPRENTICES **FLUFFYPAW** \- Smoky-black tom.

 **SWEETPAW-** \- Light brown tabby she-cat.

 **FAWNPAW-** \- Dappled light brown she-cat.

 **ANTPAW-** \- Black and brown she-cat.

 **IVYPAW-** \- Brown and white tabby she-cat.

 **SHADOWPAW** \- Tiny dappled black she-cat.

ELDERS **BRAMBLETHORN-** Dark brown tabby tom with black . stripes and yellow eyes.

 **DANDELIONSTEM-** Dark yellow tom with orange eyes.

 **MARIGOLDPETAL-** Blind orangish she-cat, white paws.

 **RUSHINGWATER** \- Blue-gray tom.

 **TAWNYWILLOW-** \- Dark brown tabby tom with a gray

flecked muzzle.


	2. Prolouge

A dark shape slid unheard through the new-leaf forest. A cat emerged silently from a gorse thicket, and shook the mud off each paw in turn. Bracken crackled behind the cat, and he dashed away, still not making a sound.

A pretty, orange tabby she-cat slid, wincing, out from a clump of ferns, a bramble tendril wrapped around her hind paw.

She quickly untangled herself and raced in pursuit of the tom. By then he had neared Twolegplace. His smoke colored pelt blended with the shadows. The young tom leaped onto a twoleg fence. A heartbeat later, a huge orange kittypet showed himself.

The she-cat, who had arrived and was hiding in a spruce tree, gasped in surprise. She turned her bright blue gaze on the kittypet, watching intently.

"Blood? Is that you?" the kittypet turned to the dark tom.

"Remember, Straw, that's not my name yet. I have to wait until we carry out the plan." he answered.

Straw tipped his head. "The one where-"

"Shh!" the smoke colored tom hissed. "I hear something!"

The orange tabby hiding in the spruce tree winced as a shower of leaves fell down.

"Someone's here!" exclaimed the dark tom. "They must have followed me from camp!" He scanned the trees desperately, then caught a glimpse of the she-cat.

"Who's there?" he called warily. When no cat answered, he left Straw and scuttled up the spruce tree like a squirrel. In a heartbeat, the she-cat jumped out of the tree. When the tom reached the top, she was gone.

Puzzled, he rejoined Straw. "Must have been a squirrel." he meowed casually.

Straw slowly nodded. "I guess." He glanced back into his garden. "But I'd feel safer in my land. Let's go." The orange kittypet led the other cat into his garden.

Meanwhile, the orange she-cat was racing along the path back to a dip in a ravine. Her camp. When she arrived, she slipped past a brown tabby tom sitting guard, and hurried back to her nest.

The black tom, meanwhile, was sitting under a hazel bush in Straw's garden. "When will we carry out the plan?" Straw asked.

"Whiteflower is out of the way, and I believe she's the only one who knows about him." The other cat replied. "I still want Skyflight dead. She's already suspicious. She found his scent while herb gathering."

Straw dipped his head. "Anyone else?" He asked.

"Flameheart, the ginger one. She's been suspicious too." he replied after a moment of forethought.

"What about the black one?" Straw pressed. "The one always hanging around with the one you call Lightpelt?"

"Yes, her. And her brother too."

"The tortoiseshell?"

"Yes." As the young black tom said this, he slid under the hazel bush and out into the open. "Goodbye, Straw." He meowed. "Meet me here again at the next new moon."

Straw nodded and flicked his tail in acknowledgement. The kittypet watched as his friend disappeared into the night, and the tip of his tail waved out of sight. He glanced up at the ring of a moon hanging suspended in the sky above him.

"I wonder if he is almost ready." He said to himself. "It is almost time."


	3. To the Moonstone! Or Not?

The half-moon was in the sky tonight. Skyflight looked up at it in wonder. How was it that all the cats of StarClan lived in the heavens above? She wondered if Whiteflower was there. Whiteflower was an elder when Skyflight was born, but she had been viciously killed by the savage kittypet at the edge of their border. A few moons later, Skyflight herself had been attacked and almost killed when she was an apprentice gathering catmint with Flameheart. She was jerked out of her thoughts by a gruff meow from next to her.

"Skyflight! Stop dozing off. We've reached Fourtrees." Redpelt gestured to the Shadowclan and Windclan medicine cats. A white she-cat with gray paws, ears, and a gray tail was waiting, a brown tom with dark green eyes next to her. Skyflight greeted them.

"Snowshadow, Frogtail." she meowed. Next to them was the WindClan medicine cat, Mintstripe. The black streaks on his snow colored pelt seemed to disappear into the gloom of the massive oak behind him.

"Sorry we're late." a meow came from some ferns near Snowshadow. A red she-cat and a streaked tom emerged from the ferns.

"Hi, Firewind." meowed Frogtail in a friendly tone. "And Streakpelt, it's good to see you."

"How's your other kit? Bounceheart?" Redpelt asked. Firewind had had kits with Forestrustle before coming a medicine cat.

"He's great." piped up Streakpelt, Firewind's other son. "He's been padding after Willowsplash for ages now."

"Willowsplash is expecting." added Firewind. "She hasn't told Bounceheart, and she's made Streakpelt promise not to tell."

Lastly, Crookedlegs appeared from the brambles. "Mintstripe," he croaked. "Is this yours?" From behind him peeked a little ginger she-cat with white streaks on her fur and face.

Mintstripe looked embarrassed and surprised. "Twistpaw? You weren't behind me? I was about to introduce you to the other medicine cats." Twistpaw ducked her head shyly as the gazes of the medicine cats turned upon her.

"Sorry, Mintstripe. I saw a cool plant. I have some here." she pawed a bundle into view. Mintstripe padded up and took a cautious sniff.

"I've never seen this before on the moor." he meowed after a moment.

Skyflight padded up to examine the curious plant that Twistpaw had found. It was a plant with white flowers in umbrella shaped clusters. She had never seen it either. "It looks like parsley." she remarked. "Maybe it's a new kind."

Before anyone could stop her, Twistpaw leaned forward and nipped off a stem. "Let me try it." she mumbled around her mouthful.

"Twistpaw? Don't eat things you don't know anything about!" Exclaimed Mintstripe.

Twistpaw swallowed, then sank to the ground. "My belly hurts." She groaned.

"Oh no!" Snowshadow stepped forward. "I know that plant. It's water hemlock. It's as deadly as deathberries!"

Twistpaw looked up at her with horror in her gaze. "Fetch yarrow, quick!" ordered Frogtail.

Redpelt, Crookedlegs, and Snowshadow dashed off with Frogtail. Firewind and Streakpelt were hard on their paws. Skyflight stayed with Mintstripe. He had pawed the remains of the plant out of her mouth.

His apprentice was writhing on the ground, foam at her mouth. "Don't die, Twistpaw! Not now!"

Firewind exploded into the clearing, a clump of yarrow in her jaws. She dropped the stems by Mintstripe, choking and gasping for air. "I accidentally swallowed a few." she admitted to Skyflight, then turned and threw up.

"I hate yarrow!" she gasped.

Skyflight heard a loud retching noise. Twistpaw violently vomited a foul-smelling pile of water hemlock. She lay weak and shivering. The little cat's breathing was fast and shallow. A heartbeat later she had slipped into unconsciousness.

Mintstripe paced the clearing. "Will she be all right?"

"She's in the paws of StarClan now." Skyflight responded wearily. Mintstripe shot her a horrified gaze, grief glinting in his eyes.

Firewind sat up and padded over to Mintstripe. "Come on, help me find some juniper, or better, watermint." Mintstripe nodded numbly, looking relieved to have something to do.

It seemed like centuries before Twistpaw opened her eyes and stared blearily at Mintstripe. The moon was sinking now, and the pale light of dawn began to fill the sky.  
"Is it too late to go to the Moonstone?" Twistpaw asked.

Mintstripe glanced at the sky, then nodded. "Yes, it is. We'll go next half-moon."

"I'm sorry, Mintstripe. I didn't know it was poisonous."

"Of course you didn't." he soothed, though he still looked stressed from his night of worry.

"Well, there's no use standing around. Let's get back to our camps." Snowshadow meowed. She and Frogtail bounded back to the ShadowClan camp. Crookedlegs meowed goodbye then left for SkyClan.

Firewind waited impatiently for Streakpelt to finish washing, then the two left for RiverClan.

Just as Skyflight was about to follow Redpelt into the undergrowth, she turned to a muffled "Oof!"

Twistpaw lay in a crumpled heap. Skyflight bounded over. "She's too weak to walk all the way to the WindClan camp." Mintstripe conceded.

"Our camp is the closest. You can come with me."

"Thankyou, Skyflight. Twistpaw, lean on us." The apprentice struggled to her feet, her legs shaking beneath her. The cats headed back to ThunderClan, not aware of what now awaited them.


End file.
